Maximum Yield USA May 2017 | Page 88

trends & technology Last but most importantly, in hydroponics you increase the quality and quantity of your yields, as well as their content in active principles, especially when you use the right nutrients. So we began our tests on Hieracium pilosella with the understanding that the faculty in Toulouse would analyze the harvest and give us its conclusions about the quality of our plants compared to soil-grown, and their content in active principles. We started our Hieracium from seeds in a tray with a mix of perlite and vermiculite. As soon as they became vigorous young seedlings, we transplanted them into a one square meter (m 2 ) hydro Dutch Pot System (DPS), with a mix of small and medium size rocks for best adherence to the root system. We used Flora Series nutrients and set the nutritive solution to EC = 1.0 and pH = 5.8-6.2. The plants developed quite well and rapidly increased in size. In no time, they covered the whole area. Maintenance was next to none: just cleaning the dead leaves from time to time. 86 grow cycle To respond to the criteria of the analysis, we picked part of the plants before flowering and the other after flowering, dried them as requested and sent them to the laboratory. The results were quite encouraging. “Batch corresponds to Pharmacopoeia, presenting a high level of tracers (active substances),” was the conclusion of the laboratory’s report. Indeed, the macroscopic and microscopic identifications, as well as the mineral content of our crop, were consistent with the required norms of the soil-grown control. The dosage showed that the hydroponically grown Hieracium contained 4.24 per cent of active principles compared to 2.5 per cent for the control. Needless to say that this first analysis boosted our spirits, and opened a large field of investigation and research for us. Once again, we had confirmation that we could not only increase the volume of production, but also got the assertion that those products were appropriate for hum an consumption, and fit to be used for therapeutic applications. “In hydroponics you increase the quality and quantity of your yields, as well as their content in active principles, especially when you use the right nutrients.”